A splendid promise but a great failure. Won’t 1 
they bo high before next planting time 1 w. < 
New Yorlu 
Clyde, Wayne Co., Oct. 12.—The first cold 
snap of Autumn occurred on the 4th. Quite a. 
considerable surface of water and damp 
ground was frozen over, but the high wind 
prevented a frost. However, all ungathered 
grapes, etc., were destroyed by a hard frost ' 
on the night of the 10th. From about the time 1 
of th“ shooting of the President no rain of any ' 
account fell hero until the day of his funeral, 
since winch wo have had frequent storms. ' 
There was not enough rain to start the loose I 
kernels on the ground and in the heads of ; 
wheat scattered on the harvest fields until the | 
last day of September; but the soil was not ' 
penetrated to the deptli of the plow until tiua < 
4th inst, since which considerable plowing has i 
been done, and sowing bus been continued up ( 
to the Oth. Some farmers finished sowing the 
first, week of September, in the dust; oth¬ 
ers continued at different, times to the 20th ] 
and 25th, and others waited till after the rain . 
came. The early-sown came up at once in 
moist places in some fields, and evenly on i 
sunuuer-fallows. The remainder of early ( 
pieces arc now all up, after lying on the 1 
ground 20 days—every kernel growing. Mow, 
is there such a thing as the malting of wheat 
after sowing, except, perhaps, here and there 
a few kernels ! All observers know that very 
soon after the sprout” starts upward from 
the base of the kernel, the roots start from the 
same place and are continually piercing deep¬ 
er into tho soil. Hence, how is it possible that 
a kernel should malt, except in some instances 
whore tho moisture of the soil evaporates very 
rapidly soon after the blade shoots up, before 
the roots start, or where tho only dampness 
far the depth of a foot happened to bo ut the 
surface of the ground around the seed, which, 
swelling the kernel and starting the blade, and 
tho roots shooting downward only to pierce 
into tho dry dust farther, would certainly end 
in tho death of a plant if a sovoro drought con¬ 
tinued. However, it seldom happens that 
seed sown in tho ground, which once, by its 
surroundings, is started, is suddenly stopped 
in its growth and life. There are instances, 
however, where wheat, lying in the ground 
without starting, is attacked by a fungus 
which soon destroys tho germ—the kernel is 
readily powdered in one’s hands by rubbing. 
At different times during the last month many 
of the worst-appearing kernels, soft and seem¬ 
ingly with a dead germ, which were found by 
digging in the sown wheat-fields, wore tested 
by planting in flower pots, and afterwards 
watering generously. In every instance every 
kernel grow. Houee, not only from many 
such slight tests, but also from general inquiry 
and observation in this vicinity, it is concluded 
that, on tho whole, those who sowed before 
Sept. 20th are far ahead of farmers who sowed 
after that date; for soma of tho early pieces 
grew right along, while all other pieces and 
parts of the fields came up as soon as the rain 
fell in sufficient quantity. No sowed pieces 
were plowed over; all reports to that effect, 
upon careful inquiry, failed to bo confirmed. 
Some, it is true, began plowing or cultivating 
tho ground over to sow again, but were soon 
convinced that their wheat was all right and 
coming. Those who waited for rain were hin¬ 
dered from sowing ut once by it. Others who 
did not plow or lit the ground until after the 
rain, did it then in a hurry; hence it was not 
thoroughly fitted. After all, wheat which 
came up no earlier than the lust of this month 
will need a very favorable Autumn and Win¬ 
ter to build on it any hopes of a bountiful har¬ 
vest. Thus far all wheat is growing very 
slowly. Wells are very low, and there is no 
water in swamps yet. Peaches and grapes 
were plentiful. Apples scarce, and nearly all 
falling off the trees. Winter apples are worth 
$2@2.5t) per barrel. Early-planted corn and po¬ 
tatoes gave a good yield; late, almost nothing. 
Oats and ba rley extra-good. Corn is worth 
80c.; potatoes, 80o.; barley, six rowed, 81; two- 
rowed, S5c.; wheat, $1.43, Clover seed is filled 
well, but only a few pieces wore grown com¬ 
pared with the area of former years, w. x. 
Ohio. 
Portage Co., October 10. —Tho Fall rains, 
warm and plentiful with abundant sunshine 
between showers, have caused tho State to put 
on ail’s, so green does everything appear. Fall 
feed is growing rapidly and the wide-spread 
death that was prophesied to our grass lands 
in September has not come. Not one percent 
of the grass died. Wheat seeding is yet being 
vigorously pushed and has taken almost tho 
form of a mania. The result of this late seed¬ 
ing is very problematical, for of success there 
is only one chance in ten. The milk supply is 
again rapidly increasing, and wilkisselling to 
tho creameries at 15 cents per 10 pounds. 
Cheese lSj^O. Live stock scarce and selling at 
high prices. Wheat, $1.45; rye, $1.15: oats, 
48c.; apples, $1; potatoes. $1.25. j. o. 
Tennessee. 
Mkridikn, Cherokee Co., Oct. 12.—I have 
dug the White Elephant Potatoes and find they 
weigh 32 pounds from 10 05 es planted in hills. 
One potato weighed two pounds. Tho Branch- 
iug Sorghum I consider very valuable. The 
Washington Oats blighted badly. G. T. s. 
Vermont. 
Hartland, Windsor Co., Oct. 10.— My 
White Elephant Potato gave 67 tubers weigh¬ 
ing 13.1£ pounds. They were on dry soil and 
the drought was severe in this section this 
year. One pound of Grange gave 17 pounds; 
one pouudof Ontario, 22 pounds; one pound of 
White Star, 34' j 1 pounds; one pound of Silver 
Skin, 38 pounds, 1 had 16 kinds of potatoes 
this season. Triumph, Burbank’s, Beauty of 
Hebron. Pride of America, Sutton’s Magnum 
Boiium 1 think will do well here. The frost 
in June hurt the potatoes and corn before the 
dry weather and hot sun. The Rural Branch¬ 
ing Sorghum came up well, but I think it is 
too cold for it to grow very large. T. A. K. 
Wisconsin. 
Green Bay, Brown Co., Oct.!).—Ourseason 
has been peculiar—wet in early May and again 
in late June, and then dry, but the drought 
was not so severe as farther fouth and east. 
Our hay crop was above an average. Barley 
and rye gave good yields. Corn is about 
three-fourths of a crop. Potatoes are more 
than an average crop on heavy and moist 
soil; but light on poor and light laud. On tho 
whole, the farmer has reason to bo thankful 
for fair crops and good prices. I think the 
Rural, seed distribution is doing much good 
in causing farmers to make closer observations 
and comparisons as well as giving them many 
valuable useful and ornamental plants. The 
Branching Sorghum has 10 to 15 stems from 
one seed. I cut ten lulls on August 7, when it 
was from five to six feet high; it has grown 
up again from two to three feet high; that 
which I left uncut is eight feet high and the 
seed in the milk, as green ns in Juuo with ther¬ 
mometer at 70 c . The White Elephant Potato 
I received weighed two ounces, had nine eyes, 
and was planted May 17, aud dug Sept. 26— 
yield 35 pounds. It is undoubtedly a greai ac¬ 
quisition for the Rural family. The pinks are 
simply beautiful, they have been in bloom for 
two months, and have brought forth many 
expressions of delight from the people who 
saw them. That tho blessings you are weekly 
and annually sending forth to the great Rural 
family, may return, not only in material 
wealth but in sympathy and good fellowship 
is the sincere wish of T. b. 
Lavalle, Sank Co,, Oct. 13.—We have had 
a very favorable season for growing crops. 
Though the Spring was late, the Summer was 
hot, with seasonable showers and a flood in 
July. August was hot and somewhat dry, but 
we had showers every 10 or 12 days. The last 
of September and first of October have been 
very rainy and the water was the highest of 
the season the first of the month. We had 
frost on October 6 . "Wheat ivas a short crop; 
barley good; oats, corn, potatoes, hay all good 
crops. Wheat, §1.10@1.25; oats, 30c.; corn, 
50c.; barley, 55c.; potatoes, 60c.; butter, 20@ 
23c. White Elephant Potatoes a good crop. 
Washington Oats rusted and lodged and were 
destroyed by hens. M. s. H. 
She (Querist. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by tho name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention.] 
SLIDE GATE PATENTS. 
L. S., Burgettstown, Pa., sends a rough 
sketch of a slide gate on which parties are 
claiming a patent “royalty” in that neighbor¬ 
hood, and asks fur information with regard to 
it, having heard that the Rural, years ago, 
illustrated and described it. 
Ans.—O ur inquirer does not mention the 
name of the patentee of the gate in question, 
and the sketch does not quite represent any 
patented gate with which wo are acquainted; 
but from the general appearance of the gate 
shown, and the manner of doing business 
practiced by’ tho “royalty” sharks, we should 
judge it is either the Teel or Lee gate. Both 
of these were profusely illustrated aud fully 
described in the Rural of January 35, 1871), 
with tho view of warning farmers against tho 
exactions of agents who were demanding 
“royalty "on them, and of eliciting further 
information about them for the benefit of the 
| farmers of Michigan in the first place, because 
they were contesting tho patents in the courts, 
and of tho fanners of the whole country, in 
the next place, because they would be protect¬ 
ed by the triumph of the Michigan eontestors. 
Teel’s patent is No. 2,667, and was issued on 
December l. 1833, and reissued July 2, 1867. 
The Lee patent is No. 50,605, and was issued on 
October 24, 1865. Professor 11. C. Carpenter, 
of tho State Agricultural College, Mich., took 
a prominent part in contesting the validity' of 
these patents in that State, and in reference to 
the result of the contest ho writes us, under 
date of October 14:—“ We in Michigan, 
after our expensive law-suit, have learned to 
beliove that there are no valid patents cov¬ 
ering tho simple slide gate. The farmers of 
Michigan were subjected to persecution un¬ 
der both tho Teel and Lee patents. In 
the case of the Lee gate the patent covers 
a peculiar combination of slats and strips 
which, I venture to say, can not be found on 
any gate in Pennsylvania. Some 44 suits 
were begun against farmers in this State for 
infringement on this patent, all of which, with 
one exception, were dismissed without trial. 
That case lowing been carried to a conclusion, 
res, Ited so decidedly in favor of the farmers 
as to end completely all persecution under the 
Lee patent. Agents were immediately after¬ 
ward sent throughout the State to collect 
royalty under the Teel patent. This patent 
without doubt covers the ordinary slide gate, 
but the farmers were able to prove the use of 
this gate for more than 20 y r ears, and the 
Court decided a second time iu favor of the 
farmers. In view of what has been proved in 
Michigan regarding the use of the slide gate, 
there is no question regarding tho right of all 
to use this gate. Persons undertaking to col¬ 
lect royalty for its use should be treated in the 
same manner as swindlers.” Should tho far¬ 
mers of Pennsylvania, or, indeed, of any 
other State be harassed by fellows seeking 
royalty under either of these patents, we 
shall be glad to furnish the same information 
with regard to the patents, that has been suffi¬ 
cient to secure a verdict against them in the 
Michigan Courts. We ask our readers, there¬ 
fore, to let us know whenever any rascal 
troubles them on this score. 
SORGHUM BUGS. 
E. IF. IF., New Orleans, La., sends for 
name and history somo insect pests that des¬ 
troy the seed heads of tho Rural Branching 
Sorghum, Pearl Millet, etc, 
ANSWER BY PROF. G, H, FRENCH. 
The insects sent me as doing damage to 
Sorghum seed heads in the Gulf States are sci¬ 
entifically known as Leptoglossus Phyllopus; 
the last name meaning Leaf Foot, anil they 
might be known as the Leaf Foot Bugs. Say 
gave them the name of AuisoscelLs Albicinctus. 
The only mention I find of thisinsecteconomic- 
allyisin the report of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture for 1875, where Mr. Glover says this of 
it in speaking of hemipterous insects gener¬ 
ally: “ Some of the insects of this family are 
said to be beneficial to the fanner by destroying 
other injurious insects, among which may be 
classed Leptoglossus Phyllopus. Wo have 
met with these insects frequently in Florida 
on the cotton plants, and at first suspected 
them of suckiug the sap from the young 
bolls; but, although we watched their actions 
diligently, we must say that wo never saw' 
them in the act of piercing the bolls iu 
order to suck the sap, and only once caught 
them under suspicious circumstances where a 
boll had been pierced in several places, and 
the sap was exuding from the wounds. Several 
of these insects were gathered together very 
near tho flowing sap; they, however, dispersed 
as soon as they were observed, and flew away 
immediately.” Further on ho says that Mr. E. 
J. Earle of Evergreen, S. C., saw them des¬ 
troying other insects. These are hemipterous 
insects belonging to the family Coreuhe to 
which belong the well known Squash Bugs 
(Anasa tristis), all of them being furnished 
with a long beak or rostrum instead of jaws. 
Those that are plant feeders pierce the plants 
with this beak and suck the juices, and those 
feeding upon othev insects pierce their prey, 
suck out the fluid parts and cast away the dry 
skin. It may be that these bisects found 
in the seed heads of sorghum were in reality 
feeding upon some other insects that were des¬ 
troying the seeds. If the seeds or the other 
parts of the head were eaten by gnawing, then 
certainly it was not by this insect for it has 110 
jaws. The insect iu question is a brown bug 
five-eighths of an inch long with a white mark 
across the back and the hind legs expanded 
near the feet. 
SILVER WORMS. 
A Subscriber, Washington, D. C., asks how 
to get rid of the little Silver Worms that eat 
holes in all sorts of clothes. 
ANSWER BY PROF. O. H. FRENCH. 
There are two sjiecies of the so-called “ Sil¬ 
ver Worm,” a Spring Tail (a species of Podura) 
and a Bristle Tail (Lepismu saccharina) that 
are common about houses, but more particu¬ 
larly the lutter. They are both gray insects, 
the first with little bristles bent under the ab¬ 
domen by means of which it makes consider¬ 
able leaps. The bristle tails have, instead, 
three long bristles projecting from the tips of 
the abdomen. Both are somewhat) flat, ellip¬ 
tical bisects without wings and niovo rapidly. 
Tho Bristle Tails are to bo found in houses 
through the most of the country, but they 
usually do so little damage that I have not 
seen any special remedies recommended by 
writers on economic entomology. I use "ani- 
phor guni to keep them out of my cases of in¬ 
sects. If tho clothing, such as silks or wool¬ 
lens, were iu boxes or trunks a littlo camphor 
gum put among tho clothes about twice dur¬ 
ing the Bummer would prevent injury from 
these insects. Clothing that hangs in closets 
if molested could lie treated the same as for 
clothes moths—frequent airing, shaking and 
sunning. 
PLANTING CHESTNUTS. 
IF. IT. L., Cooperstown, N. Y., having some 
20 acres covered with worthless cherry and 
apple trees which he wishes to replace with 
chestnuts, asks when and how to plant these. 
Ans. —Plant the nuts this Fall while fresh, 
just where you want the trees. Cover them 
two or three inches deep. If you are afraid 
squirrels will remove them this Fall and IV in¬ 
ter, bury them with their bulk of damp sand 
in a box till April. Then plant them where 
the trees are wanted. 
Miscellaneous. 
F. Detroit, Mich., being about to move 
to a distance of 200 miles this Fall, aud wish¬ 
ing to take his asparagus plants to his new 
home, asks whether he can transplant them 
when he moves, as there is no one to whom 
he would like to entrust their care where they 
are now set. 
Ans.—Y es, they may be transplanted 
Keep the roots moist. Prepare tho plot of 
ground to which they are to be removed well 
—have it rich, deep and mellow. A sandy, 
well-drained soil is best. Plow or d ig trenches 
a foot deep four feet apart and set the plants 
two feet apart in the trenches. Spread out 
the roots well and cover. Give the bed a 
mulch of farm manure in December. 
F. McM., Fair Haven, N. J.. asks the mean¬ 
ing of speciosa as applied to such plants a3 
Catalpa speciosa, Magnolia speciosa, etc. 
Ans.—T ho word is the feminine form of the 
Latin adjective sjjeciosus, showy, handsome, 
When the noun it qualifies is masculine, the 
masculine form of the word is employed, as 
Amaranthus speorosus.the Showy Amaranth; 
when it is feminine, the feminine form is em¬ 
ployed, as Catalpa speciosa, the Showy Catal¬ 
pa; and when the noun is neuter the adjective, 
too, must be neuter, ns Chrysanthemum 
speciosum, the Showy Chrysanthemum. 
N. K., Cherry Creel,-. Nevada, sends two 
specimens of grass for name, and asks their 
value as feed in comparison with Timothy. 
Ans. —They are identical—Tritlcum repens, 
whose familiar names are Quack, Rye, Scutch 
or Quitch Grass. For feed it is just about as 
valuable as Timothy, but it is generally con¬ 
sidered a pest, for the reason that it is difficult 
to get rid of it when once it is estabbshed. 
If. M. Y., Clarke Co., Ark., asks where he 
can get the Marlboro Seedling Raspberry, 
and a Shropshire ram. 
Ans. —We believe the Marlboro is not 
yet offered for sale. Shropshire Downs are 
for sale in the West by A. O. Fox, Oregon, 
Wis; Geo. Alien* Son, Palermo, Ill; Morgan 
& Cotton, Camargo, Ill; J. A. Brown & Son, 
Decatur, 111:Mrs. Ann Newton, Pontiac, Mich. 
IF. D., BrookviUe, Ohio, asks how to win¬ 
ter the pinks from the Rural seed. 
Ans. —They will not need special care. A lit¬ 
tle mulch worked in the soil of the beds in 
which they grow, will perhaps help them. We 
hope you have saved seeds from the best varie¬ 
ties which bloomed. If taken in they will 
continue to bloom after a rest. 
N. H. B., Evelyn , Ga., sends for name some 
grass plumes which when dry open out, making 
a handsome appearance. 
Ans.— The grass plumes are Erianthus Alo- 
pecuroides. They grow in swampy pools from 
Virginia to Florida. They quite resemble 
those of the beautiful E. Ravemue, a hardy 
grass cultivated for ornament. 
O. G. D., Wcllville, Va., asks where can 
he can get seed of Egyptian or Green V alley 
Grass—Sorghum haiepense. 
Ans.— We think Dr. Jones, of Herndon, 
Ga., can supply it. 
A. L., Topeka, Kansas, asks whether there 
is any dealer in Polled Angus Cattle within a 
“ reasonable” distance of that point. 
Ans. —Yes. A. B. Mathews, Kansas City 
Mo. 
W. L. Bishop:—We hope to report later. 
A. C.:—The more we seo of the Pocklington 
Grape the more we like it. The quality is bet¬ 
ter than that of Concord. 
Communications received for the week 
ending Saturday, Oct., 22, 1881. 
M. V. R., box received.—C. T. L.—W. E. 
Bubar, Stockton, Winona Co., Minn. A well- 
ripeued seed head of what we suppose to be 
the Rural Branching Sorghum.—W. Y. H., 
(hanks.—W. II. D.—B. R.—M. D. A. S. S. 
O. C. D—J. J. W.—M. A. H—T. W. T .—W 
S H — G. T. S.—N. Mcl.—D. S. J.—J. H. 
H II. C—A. C. H.-W. P.-L. E. B.-L. 
O.—J. S.—H. D. W.-F. H. W.-JT. J.—F. 
1 B. B.—L. C.-L. M.—T. D.—A. Z.-T. H. 
I A’ M.—R. N.—N. A. R.—H. J. S.—J. P.— 
1 S.-S. G.-S. M. P.-M. C.—E. M. T.—F. K. 
w p ► I r 
